A Small Kindness
by Lyta Padfoot
Summary: [One shot] Every so often a person acts in a way contrary to their nature. For a kind person, it is an uncharacteristic cruelty. For Lucius Malfoy it is a small act of kindness to a frightened Muggleborn child.


HP is not mine and never will be...but a girl can dream, right? 

** "A Small Kindness"**

Lucius Malfoy hummed as he strolled down the winding corridor that led to Malfoy Manor's dungeons. Life was better than he had ever known it could be at the moment. His father always told him that a wife was the best ally a wizard could have, but Lucius was doubtful until he met Narcissa. Their relationship strengthened him, unlike the marriages of some of his friends who could turn into gibbering idiots at the thought of what their spouse would think if they came home with the collar of their robes still marked by lipstick from some Mudblood had collapsed dead against them. Narcissa was practical, simply asking that he not involve her in his "activities". 

"I can pass a truth test if I do not know for certain," she told him a few weeks ago. She was very pregnant then and Lucius understood her concern that their children retain at least one of their parents during their formative years. Death Eaters were killed or captured after all, Lucius was more aware of that after Narcissa informed him that she carried his child. 

Now he was the proud father of a healthy son. One look into Draco's pale blue eyes ( Narcissa assured him that all babies were born with blue eyes and that Draco's would change color as he aged ) and Lucius found himself promising amazing things to the child and meaning every word. 

Reaching the tiny fireplace in the old dungeon masters quarters, Lucius flooed to the location he had been given, then used the portkey there to take him to the apparition point. His final destination was a tumbling down castle on the Isle of Drear. The place was unplottable and abandoned - with good reason for Quintapids dwelled on the island. The Dark Lord reasoned that no one would consider checking the old MacBoon castle, and the monsters were excellent for disposing of bodies when Voldemort wanted to keep the death a mystery. 

As Lucius arrived, two servants were levitating the bodies of three people down the staircase. He barely spared them a glance - they were Muggles. He only noticed them because their bodies lacked marks from torture and they did not appear to have been subjected to the Killing Curse. The clothing and hair were wet, he was not an expert, but the Mugles appeared to have been drowned. 

_Fitting,_ Lucius thought as he remembered some of the ways Muggles used to test for Magic. 

A spy had managed to gain access to the book in which the names of all magical children were written down at birth. The Death Eater scribbled down as many of the names as he could before he was discovered and had to flee. The children of pure-blood lines were ignored, but this was an unprecedented opportunity to ferret out Mudbloods before they arrived at Hogwarts. 

The three Muggles were likely family members of one of those Mudbloods. The Mudblood children themselves were kept around longer. 

Lucius knocked on the door. In the days before the MacBoons were transfigured into beasts, this room had been the quarters of the chieftain and his wife. It was the only private room in the building and thus was claimed by the dark lord for his own. 

The door inched open. Voldemort was seated in a green velvet armchair before a blazing fire, in front of him on a Persian rug was a little girl in a pale blue nightgown. She appeared to be only two years older than Draco and clutched a coal colored kitten to her chest. 

The serpentine wizard prodded the child with his wand. "Lucius, I would like you to meet my young guest. Katherine, you must introduce yourself to Mr. Malfoy." 

The girl managed to climb to her feet. Her wild tangle of hair curtained her face, but Lucius recognized the dazed motions without having to see blankness in her eyes. The girl could not cope with what she was experiencing so her mind distanced itself from events, viewing everything as though it occurred to someone else. Her reaction was prolonging her life: Voldemort liked his victims aware of what was being done to them. 

"How do you do, Mr. Malfoy. My name is Katherine Bell." The voice was small and lifeless, too formal for a three-year-old. Lucius suspected Voldemort coached her, manners often amused him. 

"Katherine is going to be of great help to our cause," Voldemort explained as calmly as though he were discussing the history of the building. "She will be remade, in mind and spirit in the years to come. And she will be our spy at Hogwarts." 

"Spy?" Lucius repeated, staring at the child. 

"Who would ever suspect a Mudblood orphan?" Voldemort asked, his voice becoming almost a hiss on the last word. "Before their deaths, her parents informed me that their will specified Katherine be left to an aunt if anything should happen to them. Another servant is paying this aunt a call. The Ministry might investigate, but they will discover nothing of consequence. Then, in a few months time, the girl will be brought back here to begin further preparations for her future role." 

Lucius nodded. The aunt would be placed under the Imperius curse so that Voldemort could continue to prepare the girl. It was really rather clever. He certainly would never consider a Mudblood as a possible agent, and even if she were suspected none would think to check back so far into her past. The girl appeared to be about three, which meant it would be eight years before she was old enough to go to Hogwarts. If the Dark Lord attained his goal before then, she could be destroyed with ease. 

She would never be made a Slytherin, which meant others would not guard their tongues around her. And Dumbledore always had great sympathy for pathetic little orphans... 

"Her family was out boating." Voldemort continued. "They drowned. Perfectly mundane." 

That would explain the manner in which the family was killed. Lucius wondered if they had realized how fortunate they were. He preferred quick kills, screams never excited him as they did some of the others. He did not care to waste much of his time torturing unless he requird information, he had better things to do. 

"Soon it will be time to put Miss Bell into the sea with the bodies of her family." Voldemort mused. "Someone ought to provide the Muggles with the news of this tragedy so they can pluck the girl from the water." 

"Won't they wonder why she's alive? She doesn't appear old enough to know how to swim. " Lucius queried. "It's almost November and the water is deadly cold." 

Voldemort laughed. "Magic will warm her. The Muggles will not care about the whys. They will accept and proclaim this a miracle." 

Lucius was a bit dubious, but Voldemort knew the Muggle mind and ways better than he. "What is it you that wish of me my lord?" 

"Deliver the girl." Voldemort replied. 

He was provided with another portkey, a strange Muggle creation called a life preserver that was shrunk to fit into his cloak pocket, and a decent broom. Young Katherine did not weigh very much and he easily was able to arrive at the site of the shipwreck. Two of the bodies were visible along with bits and pieces of debris. Lucius pulled a life preserver out of his cloak pocket. 

"Hold onto this." He told the girl. "It is charmed." 

Whether or not she understood him or not, Katherine obeyed and gripped the orange and yellow plastic ring, as she did so Lucius wondered if he ought to dispose of the cat. It would stretch credibility for a child and her pet to survive. He stared at the cat, it was a pitiful little thing with claws firmly impended in the fabric of Katherine's flannel nightgown. 

As if sensing the threat to her pet, Katherine raised her eyes to Lucius for the first time. The look was pleading, something Lucius was accustomed to seeing, but this time the silent plea touched something inside him. He never pitied or wanted to help a Mudblood before, and in the years to come he could never explain why he was touched that night. The only conclusion he could reach was that the color of her eyes reminded him of Draco's baby stare or that he was not himself at that moment. He suddenly wanted to end his part in the charade as fast as possible. He plunked girl and her unharmed cat into the dark water. Wet, they made a strange pair. 

"_Obliviate_." 

Lucius departed, the kitten's meows of displeasure at being wet echoing in his ears. 

Three days later, Voldemort fled after his assault on the Potter's, with the lord gone the plan to turn her into a spy ended. 


End file.
